No matter what people say about it, George Lucas is undoubtedly a happy man this evening.
According to MarketWatch:
"Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" scored $50 million in first-day receipts at 3,661 theaters across the nation on Thursday, box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations said Friday. The take handily beats the one-day record of $44.8 million set last year by "Shrek 2."
With an opening like this, with the generally favorable reviews, with the number of people who are likely waiting a day or two to avoid the manic Star Wars-induced rush (myself included), Episode III looks poised to do some major Revenge at the box office.
This is a moment to begin considering how powerful a force (pun unintended) Star Wars really has on American and worldwide popular culture. To think how widely Episode I (The Phantom Menace) was derided, how poorly and viscerally new characters deemed unworthy (Jar Jar Binks) were treated by fans and critics alike, it’s a wonder that we’re witnessing the tying together of the two epic trilogies to such fanfare and enthusiasm.
And we can also begin to wonder how new generations of Star Wars fans will take in the now six completed films: will they watch 4-6 and then come back around to 1-3 like most people have and are doing at present? If they begin at Phantom Menace and go straight through to Return of the Jedi, will it flow and resonate as much as, say, the glorious whole of the Lord of the Rings trilogy?
And finally: will the sprinkling of rumors over the years ever bear fruit? Will there ever be a third Star Wars trilogy, taking us out to nine films?
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Article comments
1 - sydney
Anyone hear anything about the underlying polictical discourse in Episode III.
PAy attention to the political story adn see if you can't draw some parrallels to present day AMerica.
IT is a story about a Democracy being taken hostage by dark forces, but not through external invasion, but internal forces. It is about a dark leader using fear to convince the people to go to the dark side. It is one where it's leader talks in absoluts, and in fact, reitterates GWB's qoute "if your not with us, your against us".
Seems lucus has only loosly disguised his politics.
2 - Eric Berlin
Yes Sydney, it's widely thought that Lucas is not messing around with this one: it's an open warning against the dangers of consolidated power and necessity of the messy yet superior form of government in which opposing factions are forced to peacefully hash things out, etc.
3 - sydney
Regardless of anyones political persuasion (I hear some neo-conservatives are furious about the movie) I think it's a valid lesson.
I mean, surely it's good for kids to see the political process at work (even if it is grossly simlplified ). They wont understand it immediately but over time and multiple viewings they will have learned a valuable lesson about the political procces.
They will have a conceptual frameowrk within their head for understanding political processes.
The fact that it seems so rellevant to todays goings-on is merely an extra point for the leftys out there.
4 - Eric Berlin
I don't see it as that big of a deal myself, somewhat akin to searching for religious imagery in Lord of the Rings.
If it pisses off the neo-cons, however, I'm all for that!
5 - Jeremy
Dude, you political types need to get out more often. Lucas has all nine of the screenplays written before A New Hope (The first released Star Wars) was even brought to a producer. None of this has anything to do with Bush or any other administration.
As a quasi-neo-con I loved the movie. I felt it could have used a better turning point though. The whole "for love of a woman" reason for going dark was just...well...whiney. Seeing Anakin at his fullest it's not hard to understand where Mark Hammil (Luke Skywalker) got his whineyness from.
I can see where you lefties could try to compare this movie to Bush, but it's just a movie. (A good one at that.) Grow up!
...and if it took you guys this long to figure out how the story would end up you are waaaay behind the learning curve. When Anakin realized who the emporer really was there was a collective groan in the theater. I was talking about that moment on the way home from episode one.
6 - Eric Berlin
Dude - Maybe you should read a little more carefully. Nobody tied any kind of political symbolism in the film to the possibility of producing 7-9. Additionally, Lucas has repeatedly said that he has no plans to make any further Star Wars films.
Finally, what does the reveal on the emperor have to do with anything? That has very little to do with the politics being discussed here.
7 - sydney
ya dude,
you don't know what your taling about man.
And by the way, he didnt have those scripts written years ago. He had a rough map of the course of events for the movie. Plenty of room for alterations. If he would ahve made this movie years ago (assuming he had the technology) it would have been a different movie. How different, is up for debate.
8 - DarthAmthor
Guys, remember that corruption from within is a recurrent theme both historically and dramatically. It's a virtually ubiquitous concept; do some research on Roman imperialism and you'll find the same idea. Take a broader view of things, sometimes a story is just a story.
9 - sydney
Well I just came from the theatre and I don't think the jabs at GWB were unintentional.
The dialogue exchange between Annikon Skywalker and Ben Kenobi is far too ironic.
Ben kenobi: *something along the lines of* "don't you see the chancellor is evil. I'll never give my loyalty to him"
Annikon: "Just remember, if your not with us, your our enemy"
Ben Kenobi: "Only the Sith lords, speak in absolutes"
This exchange clearly evokes GWB's "If your not with us your against us" rhetoric used while trying to gain support for the war in Iraq.
Beyond this it evokes all the rhetoric surrounding the bush administration and in particular, David Frums speeches (i.e. the axis of evil, good vs. evil, bring freedo to the Iraqi people).
The criticism of this rhetoric and GWB's use of absolutes has been commonplace since 9/11. Despite the events of the rest of the movie, I'm certain these lines were added as a jab at GWB.
Frankly, I think their are a lot of other parallels that are to obvious to be coincidental.
10 - Eric Berlin
Darth is right -- I've always made the connection (as many others have, undoubtedly) that the politics of Star Wars mirrors the transition of the Roman Empire from a peaceful-ish Republic into a corrupt, brutal Empire.
So Lucas' politics have been there from the very beginning, so I wouldn't take anything from the final film (III) as a direct corollary to the politics of 2005. In general though, we can see where Lucas is coming from.
Note: I haven't seen the film yet -- waiting for the window to open of work clearing up, wife available, and theatres relatively not insane.
11 - Jonomania
The politics of Star Wars in general, and George Lucas in particular, notwithstanding I don't understand the debate. CLEARLY the line was meant as a direct jab at the policies of the current American administration. I mean it's an almost direct quote for god sakes. To say that the movies as a group, or even this one on its own, say anything about the current american political climate is giving George Lucas more credit than he derseves though. I mean lets be real. He's a master of special effects to be sure, but to say he is offering suble political commentary is crazy. You only have to watch Clones and Phantom to realize his understanding of the politcal process is superfluous at best
12 - Eric Berlin
I don't think anyone's trying to rate Lucas' political acumen. The discussion trailed off to discussing what the political message (and there very clearly is one, whether you agree with it or think it's weak or strong or whatever) is and what it's most closely related to.
Further, I think it's unfair to dismiss Lucas as a mere "master of special effects." He's created a pop culture phenomenon that will far outlive any of our lifetimes. He helped to reignite the science fiction genre in film and brought wonderful, funny, adventurous stories to the world (we're talking first trilogy here kids).
Lucas is a genius: make no mistake. Does he have flaws? Yep, he sure does. As do we all.